Monday, October 31, 2016

Bonnie Hunter from Quiltville has released the color information for the 2016 Mystery En Provence.
I plan on following along with the mystery. But I have to honest. Bright colors are out of my comfort zone. But we have put together the Bright fabrics that are like the color chips.

Along with a bright Magenta for the Constant of the Bright Version.

However, if you have seen very much of my sewing. You will notice I tend to like to sew more Civil War inspired tones. So we have put together a version that uses more Civil War prints.

Lavender in Civil War Fabrics are just about impossible to find. So we used a civil war pink as the Lavender. I just love these colors all together.

We used a Red from the Antique Cotton collection by Pam Buda as the Constant in our Civil War Version. I just love how it has a little of a pink undertone.

Well it is a good thing there are a few weeks between the color picks and the actual start of sewing. It gives me time to get more fat quarters cut packed and ready to ship.

Friday, October 21, 2016

I have made the Scrapbook pattern by C McCourt Quilt Designs using assorted fabrics and it made a very scrappy looking quilt. I don't enjoy piecing from scraps, but I do like to piece from fat quarters. So this pattern is perfect for me. Scrappy look without having to use scraps....

But I was wondering through the shop the other day looking for inspiration and thought that making the Scrapbook in one color way would be interesting. So Red it was...

I just love how you can really see the Cream pop in the pattern. I used a cream Crackle to give the background some texture. The border was a Tan Moda Bella Solid. I had first put a tan print as the border, but after sewing it on, it was just not right. Next to the floral border it was just way to busy.

There are only 9 large blocks that make up the quilt body.

I just love the red. Red is not usually my go to color, but I love it.

I think it would be a great seasonal quilt as well.

We have hung the quilt at the shop as a shop sample if you would like to see it in person.

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

It is no secret here at the shop that I just love the Monterrey Medallions Pattern by Atkinson Designs. I have made it several times. As you can see from the previous posts.

Monterrey Medallions - 1930's

Monterrey Medallions - Black Civil War

But I woke up early one morning and thought - How stunning would a Monterrey Medallions in Blue with a scrappy background be?

I used some wonderful blues. Mostly civil war prints, but a few that had the right tones and blended with the civil war era made its way in there too. I used a scrappy off white background in 12 prints to give it variety and texture.

The red in the quilt was Moda Marbles. I just love the deep texture it gives compared to a solid red.

I knew the print that I wanted to use on the back of the quilt. But, the quilt is a 90" x 90" and I just couldn't bring myself to getting 3 widths for just a few inches. Since the quilt doesn't have a border, I couldn't trim a little off, so I decided to make a row with the floating stars from the pattern and alternate it with a solid block.

It really makes a striking back and I got to use the fabric that I was really wanting to use. I quilted with a basic meander pattern using Permacore Mother Goose thread.

Thanks for letting me share. It is currently on display at the shop, so if you live close, come visit it in person. We had it on display in our booth at the Elizabethtown, KY quilt show this past weekend and it was definitely an eye catcher.

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

So I have been seeing the Fancy Forest Pattern everywhere and decided that I needed to make it.

So I spent two day at the shop just trying to get the colors right for my forest friends. The pattern calls for 40 Fat Quarters. So it took a while to get the colors just right for me.

But now it is hanging on our back wall at the shop. And it makes me smile to see it finished.

I didn't have a large window of time to get it finished and didn't want to start it and have to put it away. So I was a girl on a mission. I started on Monday after work and made all the Foxes and Bunnies. I might have spoiled myself because they were the easy ones. Tuesday night I made the Owls, Wednesday night the Hedgehogs, Thursday night the Thistle and finally Friday I made the Firefly. Saturday night I pieced all the blocks together to finished the top and Sunday I go up early to put it in my machine and quilt it.

Finished in one week. I think the pattern is very well written. I love the organization for cutting the pieces. I used ziplock bags to keep each animal together and to keep it together for my piecing. The pattern also give directions for just doing one of the 4 color quadrants for a baby quilt size.

On Friday night my daughter asked me to make her one just like it when I got finished making the shop sample. I think the second one might have to wait a few weeks.

I quilted with a simple meander and backed the quilt with a grey and teal/green wave print.

Saturday, August 20, 2016

It has been a long time since I have blogged. I am sorry to taken so long to get back in the blogging seat. I usually blog about the shop sample we have added or new things in the shop. But this blog is going to be about the changes to our website.

We were contacted last fall that the host and developer of our website had sold their business and our website (as well as may others) were being aquired by a different company that also specialized in the online fabric industry. However, it has been a hard several months with the changes and there was the feeling of a ticking time bomb of finding our website the right home.

We tried several different companies, every tutorial and trial we could find. The challenge is being able to find a platform that can allow fractional quantities. So that our customers can order in increments less than 1 and fractions over 1. I think we have found a good fit. I am still learning about different features or how things might work differently.

Our website allows you to shop by Collection like our previous website set everything up.

We still like that feature it you are wanting to see everything just in that specific collection.

Our new website allows you to also shop by all fabrics: It is great because you can see just about everything from one page.

You can adjust the quantity of yardage still with a half yard minimum from the product page or in the shopping cart.

Gift Certificates are also available electronically so that they will instantly be sent.

We are still offering a flat rate $6.00 Domestic Shipping.

We have also been able to add PayPal payment option to our website.

I want to thank all of you for hanging in there and not shaming me about being a bad blogger. Here at Whittles, we all wear many hats. We are a team of 5. So the same person that creates shop samples and kits is the same person who makes them and quilts them. The same people that take care of our customers in store are the same people who pack and fill each online order. Unfortunetly, blogging just fell down on the list.

But I am so glad to be at a place where I can take some time to get a blog post in. I think we are back at a place where it can be more of a part of our process and I look forward to sharing more with you.

I look forward to catching up on all my projects that we have finished here at the shop.